Muslims suffer abuse, monitoring in US

Kuwait, September 01: More than 50 percent of American Muslims say the US government’s anti-terrorism policies have singled them out for increased surveillance and monitoring.

According to a report released by the Pew Research Center poll on Tuesday, 55 percent of respondents to the survey have said that being a Muslim in America since 9/11 has been more difficult.

Twenty-eight percent of US Muslims said that people have acted suspicious of them and 22 percent have been called offensive names over the past year.

The new poll showed that abusing Muslims by airport security, law enforcement officers and others has been increased considerably since Muslim-Americans were first polled in 2007.

Almost as many as 43 percent reported experiencing harassment in the past year, which shows an increase from the 40 percent reported in 2007.

However, the survey found no signs of rising alienation or anger among American Muslims despite recent US government concerns about homegrown Islamic terrorism and controversy over the building of mosques.

Muslims make up about one percent of the US population.

–Agencies